| Urban Decay | 4:46 pm, August 30th, 2010
I used to be hell into Ghost in the Shell, which is an old-ish Japanese cyberpunk anime set in the future. I recently came across this amv on youtube:
….and I totally want to watch the movie again. Is it not the most awesomest video ever? Even after this long, I don’t think I’ve come across an anime as good as GitS. I haven’t even seen much of the tv series but I think I’ll start watching all that now since I’ve kinda stopped watching True Blood and Dexter!
Some of the imagery in GitS actually really reminds me of the walled city in Hong Kong, which is something I find incredibly fascinating. When I see photos and videos of the place, it’s like watching something out of a post apocalyptic sci fi movie, and it’s kinda amazing how recent the place was before it was torn down. I’m sure if it were still there today, it would be incredibly scary to go in:
When we were forced to play Second Life for uni, I think the only thing I was interested in doing in the game was visiting the walled city this guy had created. I went in, and it was cool, but simulating something as amazing as that just isn’t possible. The feel of the place is really intriguing though, and I really wish it were still here today as like a preserved historical monument or something so you could walk around in it and take a look at how they got lighting and the rooftop gardens and stuff like that. It’s so dystopian like and CREEPY inside i think that’s what’s so fascinating about it.
I was also looking at macabre japanese kids art earlier, and as much as I hate stupid/morbid takes on kids fairytales and such, I thought these were pretty cool.
I just really love stuff like THIS- urban decay and grungey imagery especially.
| Random things | 2:18 pm, August 26th, 2010
Things that have been interested/inspired me lately:
- Clouds
- Dead trees
- Sunsets
- Underwater photos
- Half constructed houses and backalleys
- The creativity crisis
- Infinite darkness
- Infinite desert
- Infinite sky
- Toilet Paper Rolls
- Lightbulbs
- Intricate Wood Sculptures
- Industrial Spaces
- Oceans of sky
- Vines
- Cranes
- Reeds
- Egyptian woman with a skull headmask
- Windows made of branches
- Spinnerettes
- Post apocalyptic train stations
- Pirahnas
- Liquid Pencils
- Ash globes
- Snowglobes
- Powdered wine
- Tangerines
- Astronauts
- Skeleton Keys
- Hot air balloons
- Val Kilmer
- Y the Last Man
- Castles
- Voyeurism
- Ferris Wheels
- Birds on wire
- Treehouses
- 90 degree cliffaces
- Honeycomb mazes
- Ladders
- Flower Petals
- Concrete gardens
Yeah.
I’m off to work now to see more beauty in greasy chips and cheapskate customers :nod:
Toodles.
| You, Appearing | 5:27 am, August 24th, 2010
Finding the time and motivation to do things is hard. Especially when you have the whole internet, books and tea at your disposal.
I think I’ve done quite a bit today in terms of creating things though, and I actually feel quite lucky to have so much stuff around me to keep me inspired.
I still haven’t added much photos and stuff on here because it’s taking me a while to compress them all. It takes a lot of time! I’ve been busy with a lot of other things but because I have so much free time this week, I’ll probably get a lot of stuff done 
I got some d3 submissions to design for the next issue, and they are pretty awesome. I’m doing 3 poems and 1 short story so far, and they are all quite inspiring. I love having the free reign to do whatever I want with the page layout and learning a lot at the same time- it’s a really fun experience! It’s gotten me thinking- if I were to do this as an actual career in the future, I think I’d probably want to do print work over web because I love having the finished product at the end…and seeing the process it made from screen onto a piece of paper. It’s also a lot easier for me to design something when I know how the page is going to relate to everything else…if you know what I mean. I’m working on creating actual illustrated landscapes but it’s…a process. I actually did 2 designs yesterday for the poems, and I LOVE how they’ve turned out, but unfortunately I can’t show them off until the next issue’s been published!
I’ve actually been reading some other people’s techniques on Illustrator lately, and they’re quite interesting. I think I should make use of the paintbrush, pencil and art brushes more often. It’s really cool learning new tips and tricks about using the program though- it makes drawing things so much easier!
Post apocalyptic art is my favourite kind of art and it always amazes me to see what other people come up with. I was looking at this last night, and I absolutely love some of the stuff on here. The traintrack leading in to the ocean totally reminds me of Spirited Away(and how I really want to rewatch that!). The abandoned train station is also pretty cool. There’s something about train stations that evokes such a feeling of… eerieness. The ability to get away from everything but in reality everything is hopeless kind of feeling?
I made whoopie pies today(they’re like cake cookies) too. Apparently they are an Amish phenomenon. Heh. I was really hungry last night and found the recipe for them on some site. I decided to make them in my sleep, and as soon as I woke up it was BAM! Cake cookie time. They were chocolate flavoured with peanut butter frosting and pecans/coconut/choc chips in the middle. SO YUMMY. But pretty rich! I’ve got loads left over!! And now I’m reallly reallly full.
I also have this drawing which I want to get done by the end of this week- it looks amazing in my head but I hope it’ll look cooler on screen. I actually tried to start it last night but I had a huge major creative block and just did not know HOW. So…maybe tonight. Or I might just sketch it and scan it in.
I want to go for a long bike ride too. Maybe tomorrow, to the lake or maybe even IKEA 
I just really need to enjoy nature for a bit.
I made a better version of the IKEA video because they for SOME REASON they could not figure out how to play the file from the DVD AND USB STICK at the launch party so my manager wants the video by Friday to show to everyone at the daily morning meeting. Hurrah! Luckily that is all over and done with. I just need to give that to them tomorrow and hopefully that will be that!
| Puffins! | 4:50 pm, August 13th, 2010
So last week it was horseshoe crabs.
This week…it’s PUFFINS.
Oh my freakin god. Puffins are the reason why I LOVE BEING ON THIS PLANET.
They’re like toucans or hornbills or rockhopper penguins, only cooler. And they’re SHO CUTE!!!!
Fun facts about puffins:
- They’re sometimes called sea parrots or clowns of the sea.
- They have penguin colour-age and are actually closely related to penguins!!!
- They can swim underwater to a depth of 200m and sometimes even eat fish underwater.
- Puffins often form nests on rocky terrain/clifftops or in burrows where they’ll lay one egg a year.
- Puffins swim with their wings, not their feet!
They’re pretty awesome!
| This pretty much sums it up | 10:33 pm, August 12th, 2010
Happens to me every single time.
[Source]
| Is this a sign? | 6:10 pm, July 24th, 2009
I had a really weird but cool dream last night.
Me and my family had these 5 seater connected chair things you see at maybe fotball stadiums or something like that. They were attached to a bunch of balloons. So one night we all sat down and the chair started floating upwards. There was no scary stuff happening or anything – pretty calm actually from all of us. We were looking at the surroundings which were mostly black, and as we passed through the sky into space, there was no ozone flare up or any of us gasping for breath.
So we eventually float around in blackness which was actually quite nice to dream, and we eventually land on a planet much like Jupiter. There is this humongous crater in front of us, which has murky brown water. Now this crater is HUGE – pretty much like a lake and it is very deep and wide.
I start swimming in the crater and suddenly my family starts shouting there’s a shark in the water! This is where I save myself from imminent death and somehow end up back on shore, even though I dreamt I was in the middle of the crater.
So we all float off on our 5 seater chair again, and I’m thinking to myself *I wonder if we should make a space capsule when we get home in case anyone falls off?*
We sightsee a few other planets before heading back to our house.
I start thinking about how to build the space capsule but then I wake up.
WEIRD huh!? it was quite trippy though and I had fun dreaming of the crater…haha.
Perhaps inspiration for my next digital drawing. 
| I must share this with everyone | 1:01 pm, July 21st, 2009
I was touching up some pics today in Photoshop and found that yet again it was saving them all with this really ugly washed out look. I’m not unfamiliar with this problem as it has happened in the past and yes – its is EXTREMELY frustrating!! Basically what I see in the pic and what I see in the preview window in the “Save for Web” in Photoshop are very different colours – not cool!
So Google thankfully saved me again, and now its all working peachy Just click here if you have the same problem I did! This worked a charm.
